Container closure



Jan 28, 1964 F. R. LlvEsAY ETAL 3,119,509

CONTAINER CLOSURE Filed Nov. 1, 1961 20 20 zob Frank l?. Livesay Jolm WRic/rs 1 N VEN TOR!)` BY amaoz anu/Wawy 5MM United States Patent O3,119,509 CONTAINER CLOSURE Frank R. Livesay, 1025 Hammond St., Apt. 1,Rocky Mount, N.C., and John W. Ricks, 7 Stratford Road, Edenton, N.C.

Filed Nov. 1, 1961, Ser. No. 149,290 11 Claims. (Cl. 220-24) Thisinvention relates to new and useful improvements in container closures,and in particular the invention concerns itself with closures for cantype containers in which liquid, powderous, or granular materials arepacked, such as for example, cans of fruit juices, milk, beer, softdrinks, ground coffee, and the like.

The principal object of the invention is to facilitate quick and easyopening of such cans and emptying of the contents thereof without thenecessity of employing conventional can openers for either puncturing orsevering the top of the can.

This object is attained by forming the can, preferably the top wall ofthe can, with an outlet opening and providing a novel closure for suchopening, the closure being firmly held in place to prevent atmosphericoxydization and leakage of the contents, but being readily removablefrom the opening by finger action alone to facilitate emptying ordispensing of the contents of the can.

An important feature of the invention therefore resides in the novel canclosure, while some of its advantages lie in its simplicity ofconstruction, efiicient and dependable use, and in its adaptability toeconomical manufacture and embodiment in cans of various sizes andtypes.

With the foregoing more important object and features in View and suchother objects and features as may become apparent as this specificationproceeds, the invention will be understood from the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, whereinlike characters of reference are used to designate like parts, andwherein:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a can equipped with aclosure in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a group perspective view showing the two plate-like membersof the closure prior to assembly;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the two closure membersapplied to the can but prior to heatsealing;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary sectional View of the two closure membersassembled to the can by heat-sealing, this view being takensubstatnially in the plane of the line 4-4 in FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 5 is a top plan View of a can with a closure of a modifiedconfiguration.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, more particularlyto FIGURES 1-4, the reference numeral designates a can-type containerhaving a top wall 12 which, in accordance with the invention, isprovided with an opening 14. The latter is preferably although notnecessarily triangular in shape to facilitate pouring of contents fromthe can after a closure designated generally by the numeral 16 isremoved.

The closure 16 consists of two plate-like members 18, 20 which are madeof deformable, thermoplastic material. If the opening 14 is triangular,the members 1S, 20 are also triangular and somewhat larger than theopening, so that when the member 18 is applied exteriorly to the canwall 12 and the member 20 interiorly to the can wall, the two memberscover the opening 14 and marginal edge portions 13a, 20a of the membersoverlap the can wall, as shown.

The center portion of the member 18 is provided with a pair of spaced,substantially semi-circular or crescent shaped finger tip receivingrecesses 22 so that a region ice 24 of the member between the recessesconstitutes a barlike linger grip.

The closure is assembled to the can by applying the members 18, 20respectively eXteriorly and interiorly to the can wall 12 so that theycover the opening 14, as shown in FIGURE 3. Thereupon, the marginal edgeportions 18a, 20a of the two members are heat-sealed to the can wall,during which action the center portions 1817, 20b of the two members arebrought into an adhering contact with each other at the edge of theopening 14 as shown in FIGURE 4, whereby to hold the two members 18, 20together as well as to the can. HOW- ever, the finger grip bar 24 of themember 18 is not sealed to the member 20, and when the closure is to beremoved, a pulling force is exerted with the fingers to pull the gripbar 24 outwardly. This force is transmitted to the member 20 and causesthe marginal edge portion 20a thereof to be deformed suiciently to passthrough the opening 14 to the outside of the can, whereby expeditiousremoval of the closure from the can is effected and the use ofconventional openers to open the can is not necessary.

As an alternative to the above described method of closure removal by apulling force on the bar 24 to remove the closure outwardly from thecan, the closure may be pressed inwardly into the can by linger pressureapplied to the center portion 13b of the member 18, thus causing itsmarginal edge portion 18a to be deformed suiiiciently to pass inwardlythrough the can opening 14. In such event, the provision of the fingergrip bar 24 by formation of the recesses 22 is unnecessary.

FIGURE 5 illustrates a modified form of the can closure 26 which is thesame as the closure 16 with eX- ception that it is circular rather thantriangular in shape, so as to iit a circular rather than a triangularcan opening.

While in the foregoing there have been described and shown the preferredembodiments of the invention, various other modifications may becomeapparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention relates.Accordingly, it is not desired to limit the invention to this disclosureand various modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, fallingwithin the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is:

l. The combination of a container having a wall provided with anopening, and a closure for said opening, said closure comprising twoplate-like members of deformable thermoplastic material disposedrespectively at the inside and outside of said wall and covering saidopening, marginal edge portions of said members being sealed to saidwall with center portions of the members contacting each other in saidopening and adhering to each other at the edge of the opening, themarginal edge portion of either member being sufficiently deformable soas to pass through said opening upon application of force to the closurefor breaking the seal thereof from said wall.

2. The device as defined in claim l together With finger grip meansprovided on and in substantially the same plane as the outsideplate-like member.

3. The device as defined in claim 2 wherein said finger grip means areprovided on the center portion of said outside plate-like member.

4. The device as defined in claim 3 wherein said center portion of saidoutside plate-like member is provided with spaced recesses, a region ofsaid last mentioned center portion between said recesses constitutingthe finger grip means for applying force to said closure.

5. The combination of a container having a wall provided with anopening, and a closure for said opening, said closure comprising innerand outer flat plate-like members of deformable material disposedrespectively at the inside and outside of said wall and covering saidopening, said inner and outer members extending peripherally beyond saidopening an equal distance, said distance being sufficient so as toeliectiveiy seal said opening While at the same time allowing either ofsaid members to pass entirely through said opening upon the deformationof said member.

6. The device as defined in claim 5 wherein said members areperipherally sealed to said wall throughout the entire overlappedportions thereof and to each other along that portion directly adjacentthe wall surrounding the opening.

7. The device as dened in claim 6 wherein the central portion of theouter hat plate-like member is provided with spaced recesses, the regionof said member between said recesses constituting a ngergrip for removalof the entire enclosure.

8. The combination of a container having a wall provided with anopening, and a closure for said opening, said closure having inner andouter plate-like portions of deformable thermoplastic material disposedrespectively at the inside and outside of said wall and covering saidopening, said portions being of substantially the same shape as andslightly larger than the hole, said closure being removable as a unit inits entirety either inwardly or outwardly of the wall by a deformationof the opposed plate-like portion, and readily frangible means securingsaid plate-like portions throughout the perimeter thereof to the insideand outside of the wall surrounding said opening.

9. The device of claim 8 including a handle means Centrally located onthe outer plate-like portion,

10. The device of ciairn 9 wherein said handle means is in the sameplane as said outer plate-like portion.

1l. The combination of a container having a wall provided with anopening, and a closure for said opening, said closure comprising innerand outer flat plate-like portions of deformable material disposedrespectively at the inside and outside of said wall and covering saidopening, said portions both extending peripherally beyond said opening adistance sufcient so as to effectively seal said opening while at thesame time allowing at least one of said portions to pass entirelythrough said opening upon the deformation of said one of said portions,said portions being fixedly interconnected through said opening andsimultaneously removable as a unit, and a handle means on and in thesame plane as the outer fiat plate-like portion.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,147,G04 'Wark et al. Feb. 14, 1939 2,301,724 Viecher Nov. l0, 19422,841,307 Yoder n July l, 1958 2,870,935 Houghtelling Jan. 27, 1959

1. THE COMBINATION OF A CONTAINER HAVING A WALL PROVIDED WITH ANOPENING, AND A CLOSURE FOR SAID OPENING, SAID CLOSURE COMPRISING TWOPLATE-LIKE MEMBERS OF DEFORMABLE THERMOPLASTIC MATERIAL DISPOSEDRESPECTIVELY AT THE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF SAID WALL AND COVERING SAIDOPENING, MARGINAL EDGE PORTIONS OF SAID MEMBERS BEING SEALED TO SAIDWALL WITH CENTER PORTIONS OF THE MEMBERS CONTACTING EACH OTHER IN SAIDOPENING AND ADHERING TO EACH OTHER AT THE EDGE OF THE OPENING, THEMARGINAL EDGE PORTION OF EITHER MEMBER BEING SUFFICIENTLY DEFORMABLE SOAS TO PASS THROUGH SAID OPENING UPON APPLICATION OF FORCE TO THE CLOSUREFOR BREAKING THE SEAL THEREOF FROM SAID WALL.